This invention relates specifically to the F/A 18 jet fighter aircraft fire control radar system APG65/73. This invention will be used to control and operate a APG65/73 radar set antenna, the AS3254 antenna and to simulate the various control signals that are generated by the APG65/73 fire control radar.
The AS3254/APG65/73 fire control radar antenna is an integral part of the APG65 radar system used for the search, track and destruction of enemy aircraft. The Navy uses the AS3254/APG65/73 fire control radar antenna to perform antenna testing and evaluation, There was a need in the Navy to control the APG3254/APG65/73 antenna without installing the entire radar system, therefore an antenna control and interface unit 1 was designed and built to interface the antenna measurements computer 2 to the AS3254/APG65/73 antenna 3 (See FIG. 1). This antenna control and interface has given the Navy the ability to do measurements utilizing the AS3254/APG65/73 antenna 3.
Prior to the design and construction of this device there was no "stand-alone", portable AS3254/APG65/73 antenna control unit that could be interfaced to a standard commercial, portable computer or a portable unit manually controlled and easily transported to a test range. The present invention enables the Navy to troubleshoot and diagnose problems in the AS3254/APG65/73 antenna radar system antenna 3 without installing the entire radar system. The present invention, used with a commercial computer or in a stand alone embodiment, is lightweight and easily transported to a test range.